xp_logs | Log: Pete/Remy

Pete comes down to New Orleans to talk to Remy. It doesn't go particularly well, but does what needs to be done.

It was 1 am and Pete was sitting in Lafitte's, sipping a bourbon and ice, and listening to the pianist murder "The Piano Has Been Drinking", when the other man walked in. He nodded, and waited for him to get a drink and join him.

"I keep telling dem, don't let dem play Waits after Mardi Gras. De tourists aren't here anymore and he sounds like merde." Remy set the glass on the table, and one of the bartenders came around to take his coat and cane. He took a moment to get settled after a few agonizing moments of lowering himself into the chair, before even bothering to look at Pete. The pain had etched new lines into LeBeau's face, and the youthfulness that had mystified Pete a little over a year ago was a thing of the past.

Pete shrugged. "Don't see it matter much. This guy would kill whatever he was doing." He took a drag on his cigarette. "Look, I'll get to the point. You're just about the last person on earth I've got any right to ask this of, but I need your help. Romany's gone missing, and I don't think I'm going to be able to find her on my own. Not fast."

"Why don't you call in de X-Men and de Professor? Dat batard has Cerebro afterall." Remy took a measured sip of his drink. Wisdom had stones to come down and ask that of LeBeau. Especially since LeBeau had made it clear when he left the X-Men that he was done being jerked around when they needed him.

"You want the list?" Pete spread his hands. "One, Romany's not a mutant. Even Charlie and his tin machine have limits. But mostly because I think this one's going to get very messy, and I don't want a bunch of amateurs running around, blowing shit up, and pissing off people. Not when there's a school full of kids that might get caught in reprisals. Romany said she was looking into something dodgy in the British government before she vanished. Not a lot of details, just that she might piss people off, and if I hadn't heard from her in two weeks, I should come looking. That was two and half weeks back, and now she's been very fucking effectively disappeared." The naked worry on Pete's face was visible even in the
dim light.

"So I'm going to go looking for her, and I want people I trust to do the job quietly and right. I don't want people who're going to get in my way, or try to play nice first and waste time, and I don't want people who're going to balk at pissing governments off if that's what it takes. And lastly: This isn't Charlie's business, or the X-fucking-men's. There's no holy cause, no fucking agenda. This is mine, my business. And whatever you think of me and what went down last year the fact is: there's a decent human being who just happens to have the misfortune to be related to me in trouble. She's never done you or yours any wrong. And I'm asking you to help her, if you can."

Remy took a long moment, staring into his drink and considering. When he spoke, the words seemed hollow, like he was speaking from a long way from his chair. "You have no idea how much I want to hit you right now."

The words hung for a moment, the lack of surprise in Wisdom's face the goad for all the next ones. "Been through de ringer, Wisdom. Me and 'manda. Hell and back and beyond. De only reason dat you're alive right now is her and something dat Cain said to me. And now you bring de excuse of an innocent in front of me. Fuck you."

Remy tossed back his drink and picked up his cane. He was to the door with his awkward gait, limping painfully along. At the exit he stopped. There was a moment of argument with himself. The litany of creole under his breath would have scorched the wood. Finally, he stepped back inside and to the bar.

"You tell me de truth, Wisdom. Was it worth what happen to 'manda for what you did. You, Alison and de Professor set up an abused teenager to fall and pay de price for you revenge. Was it worth it?"

Pete's expression went dead, and his voice was several shades too calm when he spoke. "I've given you no reason to think well of me. None, and I know that. And that and the fact that I need you are the only reasons I'm not beating your brains in right now, because I swear to god, if anyone else accused me of setting Amanda up...."

He took a deep breath, and continued in an icy, but rather more normal tone.

"It was not about revenge, and I know I told you that, several times in Chicago. Amanda and Romany are almost the sole fucking reason I did everything last year, and if I could have spared them all the fucking pain it caused, I would have, but I couldn't see another way to get the job done, that didn't end with lots more bodies on the deck. After Alphonso and Selene fucked her and de la Rocha junior over two years back it was fucking obvious that it was just a matter of time before they tried again. And then they took my Dad, and I knew they'd go for Amanda next. So I put myself in a place to stop them and Shaw. And when I found out that Selene was moving faster that I was ready for, I put a bit of faith in Amanda, that however bad it got, she'd find the right answers for her, and come through it, rather that blow my one shot at stopping them for good. And I'll take the blame for a lot of things but no-one,
no-fucking-one, gets to suggest that I would have willing set Amanda up or used her as bait."

He ground his cigarette out.

"I'm glad dat your intentions were pure, homme. But de thing is dat you don't have de slightest clue how bad it got. How close you came to dat girl never coming back from what happened." Remy had months to work out the anger in his mind. "No matter what your reasons are, homme, you started de chain of events for 'manda when you walked out dat door. Luck is de only reason dat she didn't die on dat last night."

Remy slumped back down, holding the cane in both hands, swiveling it slightly as he looked at Wisdom. "So, threats and bullshit aside, I don't care what your intentions were and what fucking asperisions you take offense to. I don't give a shit what noble reasons you and Xavier cooked up between you. And, finally homme, I couldn't care less 'bout what you went through. De only thing dat Remy want to know is de one thing dat none of you batards haven't bothered to say about. Was it worth nearly killing 'manda and coming a hairsbreath from remaking me in Gambit?"

"You mean, if I knew exactly what it would cost, would I do it again?" Pete lit another cigarette, and let the question hand there, staring up at the ceiling for a minute.

"I don't know. I'd really like to say no, I wouldn't. I'd feel a lot better about myself I could just just all self-righteous, or filled with remorse and say no, I wouldn't willing fuck up people I give a shit about chasing what I think is right. That I'd learned some kind of lesson, or I'm a better fucking man now. But then I think: Selene's gone. No-one else dies because of her, and Shaw's got his tail between his legs, and won't fuck with Charlie's kids for a long time. And of course I never fucking wanted what happened to Amanda, or to you, or to Domino, or Nate and the ghosts in his head, or Al, or even fucking Patches, for christ's sake. It haunts me, just like everything else, and I know you
understand what that's like. But I can't look you in the eye and say it wasn't worth it. I have to believe it was. I don't know any other way to cope. Do you?"

"Non." Remy said finally. His bizarre mismatched stare never left Wisdom's cold blue eyes. He set down the cane and poured himself a second drink from the bottle. "We have to be smarter den dis, Pete. Dere were other ways, but either you or de Professor got so convinced dat you had de only solution, dat de other people didn't matter. You right. Shaw more dangerous den Magneto in his way, and what you did was almost de right plan to bring him down. But you took away my choices and 'manda's to do it. Dat's what Whelan did when he made me Gambit. De ends were all dat was important. Charles said he was different. Dat turned out to be a lie. So you make sure dat it isn't wit' you. You hide reasons from me, you take my choice away and I don't care how good de reason is, we done."

Remy took a slow sip. "I nearly killed you in Hong Kong. You were three feet away from my juryrigged chemical bomb. What if I had done it? Back to de monster in one button push." He swirled the drink a bit, and then put it back down.

"Tell me 'bout Romany's disappearance. Remy warn you dat I'm not as combat effective as I used to be."

Pete nodded.

"I can do that." He took a drag on his cigarette. As for Romany, right now, I've got almost fuck all. She told me that she'd turned up something that smelled funny at some very high level of the British
Government, and was going to look into it, and if I hadn't heard from her in two weeks, to come looking. I've made a few calls, and no-one seems to know anything. Doesn't matter what favours I call on, or who
I lean on, I've got nothing. Which means I need to get a team of people over there, actually working the ground, look for the cracks ourselves."

“Dat’s reassuring. Remy guess dat since it’s de British government, Xavier isn’t able to use his X-Men anyway.” LeBeau tapped on the table with his fingers.

His own contacts in England weren’t great, especially after the purge last year when Wisdom left. “Betts is over dere right now. She’s got a group of people from her STRIKE days and her Hellfire membership. She’s been sending me e-mails full of rumours and underwear model pictures. I could ask her.”

Remy finished his second drink and put down the glass. “I’ve got to go to New York in a few days. After dat, Remy meet you in London. ‘manda’s at Muir right now, so I hope you’ve got a speech prepared for
Moira.” He picked up the cane and settled himself. “She’s just getting back together after de fall, Pete. Don’t be surprised if she not entirely happy to see you.”

"I'm not expecting much of a welcome, but yeah, I think we're going to need her - whatever Romany got wind of, Amanda's the only other person I trust who might be able to follow that end of it. But wait, she's at Muir?" Pete blinked. "Is she OK? MacTaggart never said anything..."

"She's been sick for months. Migraines, nausua, dat sort of thing. Even Tante's medicines didn't help. After de best specialist in New Orleans said dere was nothing wrong wit' her, I took her to Muir." Remy was staring at the polished wood knob that topped his cane, running his fingers over the curve of it. "She's been dere since. Moira still trying to figure out what's going on. Lest, dat's where dey were at last week."

He waved over the waiter for another drink. "it's been good for her down here. Tante's women all but adopted her de second we hit de runway. So I can't say I like de idea of her going back into dis shit."

"I knew she was getting the odd headache, but she never mentioned going to Muir..." Pete trailed off for a second before looking up again. "I don't like it either, but I don't have the luxury of time to
find anyone else I can trust that knows half the stuff Romany taught her. I'm not going to let her near anything more dangerous than I have to, but we're going to need someone who can spot the same things Romany might have. How's she doing on the not burning herself out for the sake of other people front, these days?"

"She doesn't have many other people right now. Tante's long on self-relience, so she only gets tough love there. I've been tied up in things dat she already knows she's not to get anywhere near. So de only one she's got to worry 'bout is herself." Remy leaned back as the waiter returned with the fresh drinks. "Most of de school wrote her off in de fall. Dere's only a few of dem dat keep in touch."

"Alright, then we're both going to have to keep an eye on her. We need her help, but I'm not having her burning herself out over this. Romany'd kill me if I did." He stared at the end of his cigarette for a second. "I might need you to keep reminding me of that at intervals."

"Dat's what de cane is for." Remy thumped it on the floor twice for emphasis. "Besides, we let her backslide, it's Tante and dat Moira I'm worried 'bout."

That earned a low chuckle, and Remy tipped back his new drink. "I haven't been in touch wit' de mansion, but I've been keeping an eye on de world at large. Dere's dat feeling in de air, like before a storm, neh? You punched a hole out of de power structure by taking on de Black Court, and de X-Men routed Magneto pretty hard. It's just a matter of time before dose spaces get filled up again by someone new."

"Yeah, well, one thing at a time old son. If there's a storm coming, I want to make damn sure I know where everyone I care about is before it hits."

"Any knowing us, dey going to be right in front of it." Remy said ruefully. "Give me a few days here and in New York to wrap some things up, and den I'll meet you in London. Hobbling off to war and all."

Wisdom nodded.

"So, fill me in on de last six months, neh?" Remy said finally, and both men bent forward to discuss their business.